Bruins slip past Panthers for 3-2 victory

SUNRISE, Fla. — Reilly Smith scored the game-winning goal with 59 seconds left in the third period and the Boston Bruins beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Thursday night.

Smith backhanded the puck into the net between the legs of Tim Thomas after a faceoff in the Panthers' zone. The goal spoiled Thomas' first game against his former team since joining the Panthers as a free agent.

Dougie Hamilton and Daniel Paille also scored goals for the Bruins, while Tuukka Rask made 27 saves.

Thomas overcame a shaky first period to turn in a solid game until giving up the goal in the final minute.

The 39-year-old Thomas, who spent his first eight NHL seasons with Boston, returned to the lineup after suffering a groin injury on Oct. 8 that forced him to an early exit after giving up two goals on five shots in a 2-1 loss at Philadelphia.

Thomas helped the Bruins win the Stanley Cup in 2011. The two-time Vezina Trophy winner also won the Conn Smythe Trophy that season as playoff MVP. Thomas followed that by going 35-19-1 with a 2.36 goals-against average and five shutouts in 2011-12, then sat out the 2013 lockout-shortened season.

Trailing 2-1, the Panthers tied it at 2 with six minutes left in the third on Winchester's goal.

After the Panthers won a faceoff in the Bruins zone, Nick Bjugstad took a shot on goal. Rask blocked the shot, but lost control of the puck. It drifted in front of the crease and Winchester took a couple whacks at it before poking it in.

Florida closed to 2-1 in the second period after Versteeg took a pass from Jonathan Huberdeau in the right circle and wristed it past Rask at 12:32.

Boston went ahead 1-0 on Paille's goal in the first. Paille skated in from the left circle and his wrist shot went high into the net at 3:45.

The Bruins took a 2-0 lead later in the period on Hamilton's power-play goal. Hamilton took a pass from David Krejci just inside the blue line at the point and fired the puck past Thomas at 12:47.

Hamilton, a healthy scratch the past two games, notched his first goal of the season.

NOTE: The Bruins broke an 0-for-12 power-play drought with Hamilton's first-period goal. ... The Bruins and Panthers will meet five times as Atlantic Division rivals this season. Boston won all three matchups against the Panthers last season, outscoring Florida 11-2. ... Panthers goalie Scott Clemmensen was scratched on Thomas's return. Jacob Markstrom remains the backup goalie.